Apartment building structure



Aug. 28, 1945. G H BURROWS l2,383,445

APARTMENT BUILDING STRUCTURE Filed ni-1y 5. 1944 2 shets-sheet 1 Aug. 28, 1945.. G. H. BuRRows APARTMENT IBUILDING STRUCTURE Filed July 5, 1944 2 sheets-,sheet 2 il v HHH-.dn HHHHHHI m h n INVEN TOR. George. How-rd ufjrows Patented Aug. 28, 1945 UNlTlD STATES. PATENT OFFICE i YAPAR'rMENtr BUILDiNG STRCTRE u I AGeorge Howard Burrows,v Shaker Heights, Ohio ApplicationJuly 3, 1944, Serial No. 543,371

1 Claim.

, This invention relates to building structures and lparticularly to multi-storied structures in which access to the different floor levels is had by stairways. l

The invention has Aparticular application to buildings of the apartment -dwelling class, in vwhich apartments or suites of rooms areprovided on different floor levels; and will be described herein as Vembodied in that class of structure; although as "will become appaent hereinafter, `the invention is applicable to building structures of other classes and for other uses. l Inthe obvious and well-known type of structureuof` this class, a stairway is provided leading, say upwardly, from each floo vto the next one Vabove it,and Vwitlava landing at the top of the stairways;'1the landing communicating with a number of apartment Suites all lon the same floor level. .'I'h'e stairway may be, and usually has been, in two half-nights, with a connecting land- -space,s may wind around in a rectangular stair Well.

In order to. provide the maximum of exposure to the outside air for light and ventilation, variousoor plan arrangements of the several suites on each-floor havebeen proposed; butsuch improved floor -plan arrangements have required th'at the entrances 0r entrance doors to the several apartments on each floor, be at a considerable distance froml the top of the stairway leading up tothat floor; and the landing at the top of the stairway has therefore had to be extended l invlengthanddirection to serve the several doorwayfentrances; and this has resulted in increased cost ofthe structure asa whole not merely be- 4causeof theincreased size ofthe landings, but particularlybecause of the increased plan area i taken up .by the stairways and landings. The present invention has for its objects, among other things,` the provision of an improved floor plan arrangement for a pluralityfof suites at each Hoor level, each having the maximum of outside exposure; and the provisio-n of an improved ar- ,.yr'angement of stairway flights and landings leading to the suites; by which the stairway flights and landings take up the minimum of plan area, vwitlna corresponding Vreduction in the overall planlarea of` the building and reduction of its cost, and, by which a greater degree of privacy `as among the sever l suites is provided. f

Other `objects wi be apparent to those skilled `in th'e art to which the invention appertains.

' The` invention is fully disclosed in the follow- `companying drawings, in which:

' ing between them, whereby the stairway, to savev ing description takenin connection with the ac- Fig. 1 is a view illustrating the general plan form of a buildingunit in which the invention may, to advantage, be embodied; the plan form of the unit; being, as shown, in the form of a cross; and, as4 indicated in broken line, th'e size of thestructure as a whole may be increased to any `desired extent by joining `one cross form unit integrallyto another; l

Fig, 2 is a view illustrating an embodiment of the invention and showing one plan arrangement of four apartments or suites, in the cross form unit, referred to, andshowing anarrangement of stairway flights and landings therefor; and the view may be considered as referred to the plane 2-2 Fig. 3; L.

Fig'. 3v is a fragmentary sectional Viewl taken from the plane 3- 3 of Fig. 2; v

Figs. 4 and 5- are rviews generally similar to Figs. 3 and 4 but illustrating another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view taken in the direction of the arrow 6 of Fig. 2 or of rig. 4.

`Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, in general the plan of the building unit provides for four apartments, or suites of rooms, A, B, C, and D. The suites A, and B may if desired be identical in size and room arrangement A(although reversed with respect to each other) and therefore only the suite A hasbeen completely shown; and the suites C and D may likewise be identical, the suiteC only beingsh'own; this inorder vthat the View may be of correspondingly larger scale in the drawings. The suites A and B are, as shown, larger than the, suites C and D, to provide a choice of rental values. .It is believed that it will be clear from the drawings thateach of the suites has substantially ful1 outside exposure on three sides. l

The side waus l and of the suites A and B join the side Walls 3 and 4 of the suites C and AD respectively, at intermediate points of the latter, whereby the inner end walls 5 and 6 of the suites C- and D respectively, may be as close together as possible for the purposes to be described; and these walls 5 and 6 are preferably parallel. Joining thewalls 5 and 6 are walls 1 andll.` Y,

The entrance door to the suite A is at 9 in .the wall 1; andthe corresponding entrance door to the suite Bis at` lin the wall 8; and the entrance door to the suite C is at ll in the wall 5;

andthe entrance door to the suite D is at I2 in .the wall s. I

A stairway landing I3 on the level of -the I .Suites A .and Dr-end ventrance t0 these Suites through the` doors 9 and I2 is h'ad from this landing I3. A landing I4 is on the level of the suites B and C, and access to the doors III and II of these suites is had from this landing I4.

By reference to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the floor plan arrangementl of Fig. 2 is provided in what may be called a three storied structure with three suites B, one above the other, each having an entrance door I Il; and three suites C, one above the other as indicated by their entrance doors II; and that the suites B and C are bodiment of my invention, the principles of which stairway flights I5 and I6 are disposed, constitute on the same floor level, their entrance doors be; J

ing served by the landings III-I4; and that there are three suites A, one above the other, each having an entrance door 9 served by a landing I3, and that while the suites D and their doors I2 arenot shown in Fig. 3, it is indicated in Fig. 2 that the landings I3 serve the entrance doors I 2,toythe suites D, and that therefore the suites A and D are on the same floor level. 1

It is to be observed, however'that, as shown in Fig. 3 taken in connection with Fig. 2, all of the suites in each story are not on the same floor level but that the floor'level for the suites B and C is f half way between the floor level of the suites A yand D; or in other words, that each of the 'landvings I4 is one half of a story higher or lower than each of the landings I3.-v A'single'half-flight stairway I5 connects each landing I3 with a landing I4, a half storyabove'it; and a'single halfight stairway I6 connects each landing I4 with a landing I3, a half story above it.

In further elucidation of this structure, it may be said that a person -going up one half flight I5 to a landing I4 can have access to the suites B and C by their entrance doors I 0 and II'; and upon going up another half flight IB from the landing I4 to the landing I3, can 'have access to the suites B and C through their entrance doors 4 9 and I 2; this being indicated by the arrows leading from the stairs in Fig. 2.

One of the results of this structure is that, as shown in Fig. 2, each half-night of the stairway communicates with two landings, one at its top and one at its bottom; and that each landing serves two suites; and that the length of each landing is no greater than the combined width of the stairway half-flights, and the width of each landing (for example the landing I4.) is no greater than necessary for a personl to walk on it and enter the door I I whereby the plan areataken up by the landings and the stairway nights is reduced to the minimum. Another result is that as in Fig. 2, the area defined by the ,walls 5, 6,1, and 8 and containing the said arrangement'oflandings and half-flight stairways, is at the center of the unit whereby the suites may extend outwardly away from this center and have three side exposures as referred to. l

Another way to identify the elements of the above described structure is to saythatat-a central portion of the structure is a plurality of stairway landings in two opposite groups; those of one group being one above the other and at levels a full story apart; and .those in the'opposite group likewise being one above the other and at` levels a fully story apart; and the levels of onegr'oup of landings being only half a story above those of the other group; the landings of one group being the inner end walls of the side apartments C and D. Now, in the form of Fig. 4, the corresponding walls I'I and I8 between which stairway halfilights I8 and I9 are disposed, constitute the inner walls of longitudinally aligned apartments AI and BI. 'I he form of Fig. 4, therefore may in some cases'be preferred particularly when the apartments are inv general smaller than those of the form of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 taken in connection with Fig. 5 shows that at the upper ends of successive vments DI and AI; and the landings 22 communicate through entrance doors 25 and-Z6 with apartments CI and-BI.

Except for the fact that in Figs. 4 and 5 the direction of the stairway half-flights is transversely of the cross form plan, whereas in the form of Fig. 2 they are longitudinally thereof,

'and except for the consequent alternate arrangement'of the walls of the apartments, the structure vof Figs. 4 and 5 is the same as that of Figs. 2 and 3, and the principlesfembodied in both are the same. l

The particular arrangement of rooms shown in the several suites constitutes no part of the rpresent invention and their indication in the drawings may be considered diagrammatic,

Referring again to the drawings, Figs. 2 and 3 (and Figs. 4 and 5), it will be seen that, as shown and as described above, the floor level of each suite A (or AI) is a half story above or below the viloor level of each suite C (or CI); and that the floor level of each suite B (or BI) is a half story above or below the oor level of each suite D (or DI).

For this reason, an occupant, in, say, suite A, looking out through the windows of his suite on the side toward the suite C, cannot see through the windows of the suite C; and similarly an occupant in suite C cannot see into suite A; and occupants in suites B and D cannot see into each others suites. By arranging the rooms in the pair of suites A and C, and in the pair of suites B and D, so that those rooms in which privacy is most desirable are at adjacent sides of these pairs of suites, a greater degree of privacy is provided, due to the staggered floor levels above described, than would otherwise be possible. The windows in the suites have not been shown in Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive, but this relation of the Windows is shown in the fragmentary perspective view Fig. 6, the view being considered as taken in the direction of the arrow 6 of Fig. 2 or Fig. 4, and wherein, as shown, the windows 21-21 in suite A (or AI)l are, inv each story, at levels half way between the levels of the windows 28-28 in suite C (or CI).

I claim:

A multi-story multi-apartment building structure having a vertical walled stairway well of rectangular cross-sections at the center of the structure and comprising opposite side walls and opposite end walls; a succession of single 'half story alternate stairway flights at the opposite sides of the well and extending in Width from one side wall to the other; a vertical succession of landings at each end of the well a full story apart; the landings at one end of the Well being each a half story above thelandings at the other end; each landing being commony to the top of one stairway iiight and to the bottom of the next successive flight; the stairway flights and the landings extending from one end wall to the other; a multi-storied tier of apartments outside each of the opposite side walls of the well and a multistoried tier ofapartments outside each of the opposite end walls; communications from each of the landings that are at one end of the well, through the end and side walls of the well, respectively, directly into two laterally adjacent apartments at the level of those landings; and communication from each ofthe landings that are at the other end of the well; through the end and side walls of the well, respectively, directly into the two laterally adjacent apartments at the leve] of those landings.

GEORGE HOWARD BURROWS. 

